Study on a new clean machining method instead of sanding technology for wood

In the process of wood surface processing, it is easy to cause safety accident. Therefore, it is very necessary to find a new and clean processing method instead. In this paper, the laser automatic processing method is used instead of manual work, exploring the ablation of milled wood surfaces with nanosecond pulse laser. Four commonly used kinds of wood were selected, and milled separately in three different directions. The generation mechanism of micro burrs was analyzed under different working conditions. Then, a laser ablation experimental platform was established, and used to ablate the milling-induced burrs on the four kinds of wood. The ablated surfaces were observed under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Based on the observations, the interaction between laser and surface burrs was investigated, and laser ablation deburring was modelled on ABAQUS. On this basis, the authors discussed how laser ablation deburring is affected by multiple laser parameters. The results show that cross-grain milling leads to more burrs on wood surface than parallel-to-grain milling and against-grain milling; for nanosecond laser ablation of wood surface burrs, the ablation efficiency and ablated surface quality could be optimized, when the output power falls between 300 mJ and 400 mJ; when the other parameters of the laser remain unchanged, there exists an optimal power density that helps to remove the surface burrs, without greatly affecting the nearby areas. The research results shed important new light on the deburring of wood products with the aid of pulse laser. Finally, it is proved that the mode of laser machining instead of traditional manual operation is feasible.